Gallo caught in fraud over 18 million bottles of cheap French wine

Scam: French winemakers are behind one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated in the wine industry (file picture)

A dozen French winemakers and traders have been found guilty of a massive scam after selling 18million bottles of fake Pinot Noir to a leading U.S. buyer.

California winery E&J Gallo bought the wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon region to be marketed under its Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir label, a French court heard.

However, the wine was a far cheaper blend of grapes than the single-variety Pinot Noir and had been deliberately mislabelled.

French customs officers first became suspicious in 2008 after realising that the amount of Pinot Noir being sold to Gallo was far more than the region had ever produced.

Customers officers then discovered that during three years some 13.5million litres of mislablled wine had been sold to Gallo.

The ordinary wines from the region sell commercially at about £39 per 100 litres against £84 for pinot noir.

Some of the 12 winemakers and traders - who are believed to have made £ 7million from the scam - were handed suspended jail sentences ranging from one to six months, and were ordered to pay fines.

These ranged from 1,500 euros (£1,300) to 180,000 euros (£156,500).

Gallo was not involved in the court case.

The judge said: 'The scale of the fraud caused severe damage for the wines of the Languedoc, for which the United States is an important outlet.'

Francis Battut, prosecuting, said: 'If Americans lose confidence in French wine production, which is already going through a crisis, then the consequences could be terrible.'

E&J Gallo is the largest family-owned U.S winery and bottler and its products are a familiar sight on British supermarket shelves.

Company spokeswoman Susan Hensley said: 'When more information becomes available to us from the authorities we will move quickly to ensure that the trust people place in our company and our wines is not put at risk.'